By Harriet McLeod
April 21 (Reuters) – A registered sex offender thought to be
the last person to have seen missing Fort Bragg soldier Kelli
Marie Bordeaux has been arrested for failing to register his new
residence near the North Carolina base, a charge unrelated to
Bordeaux’s disappearance.
Nicholas Holbert turned himself in to the Cumberland County
Sheriff’s Office in North Carolina on Friday and is charged with
failing to report a change of address as required for a
registered sex offender, authorities said.
Bordeaux, 23, has been missing since leaving the Froggy
Bottoms bar in Fayetteville on April 14. Her disappearance is
being treated as a missing person case, Fayetteville police
spokesman Gavin MacRoberts said.
Holbert told the local ABC affiliate he gave Bordeaux a ride
home from Froggy Bottoms and, at the soldier’s request, dropped
her off near her home. He said he believed police were unfairly
targeting him because of his criminal record.
Holbert, who is now 25, was convicted at the age of 16 of
taking indecent liberties with a minor, according to the North
Carolina Department of Justice.
Fayetteville Police Chief Tom Bergamine has said Holbert is
cooperating with the Bordeaux investigation, but stopped short
of calling him a person of interest in the case.
This week, police searched a wooded area and sent dive teams
into a pond near Froggy Bottoms, but turned up no fresh leads.
Holbert, who is being held in the county jail, will appear
in court on April 23, Lieutenant Branford Ivey said.
(Reporting by Harriet McLeod; Editing by David Bailey and Vicki
Allen)
